This book fair gets a personal blessing from “His Highness” Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi. The guy’s a writer and seems to believe in the power of books, so lucky Sharjahnites! Book fairs such as this are part of the reason Sharjah is called “The Smiling Emirate.”

This fair seems to focus on schoolboys and schoolgirls (coming on different days, natch) and industry professionals. There will be a cookery corner featuring cooking with chefs. Smile!

Founded in 1995 by First Lady Laura Bush, this is one of the largest and most prestigious literary festivals in the country. The annual Texas Book Festival features 250+ nationally and critically recognized authors, 20+ venues including the State Capitol, 80+ exhibitors, live music, local food trucks, family activities, and countless opportunities to meet authors and fellow book lovers.

See the nominees for the prestigious and lucrative Kirkus prize talk about their most recent work. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will discuss his book, True Faith and Allegiance: A Story of Service and Sacrifice in War and Peace. That’s pretty much three titles in one book! T. C. Boyle and Nick Offerman make appearances.

The program for this fair is dense with international luminaries of writing. Their website is a grid of intense faces promising to discuss amazing things in the world of ideas and literature. A lot of the descriptions are in white text over white images. It’s a bit hard to grasp.

There are five authors who are up for the Swiss Book Prize, so maybe go hear them read. Some of panelist whose topics I liked were Terézia Mora, “The Love Among Aliens”; Ingrid Noll and Esmahan Aykol, “Crime Evening”; and Laura de Weck, “Policy and Make Love.” I wonder if that last one is a bad translation, but I hope not.

This one looks to be a lot of fun, with segments with titles such as “Re-Writing History”; “Adventurama”; “Danger Is Everywhere”; “Slake Your Thirst”; and ‘The Pursuit of Awesomeness.” They have some famous authors and an indoor winter garden!

This fair is thirty-five years old and seems to be quite massive. This year the writer of honor is Ioanna Kuçuradi. She is a founding member and eventual president of the Philosophical Society of Turkey and the World Philosophical Federation, which has to be a lot like the Justice League. She has received numerous international awards for her writing on human rights, human philosophy, and ethics. There’s also an event titled “The Road to Bibliodiversity—Independent Publishing.”

It’s the FIL! The Feria Internacional del Libro’ 30th anniversary book fair. It’s a professional and cultural mixing of the publishing industry with the greater public. This year this international event brings the focus back to Latin America as its region of honor. There will be a tribute for publishing merit, to a bibliophile (the multifaceted academic, author, publisher and essayist Federico Reyes Heroles, whom my page translator listed as “Federico Reyes Heroics”), to the Librarian, a literary prize to Juana Inés de la Cruz, the seventeenth-century Baroque poet best known for her poem “The Dream.” There will also be a tribute to Maria Vargos Llosa.

“We kindly ask all participants and guests to refrain from any statements and declarations, which, due to the worsening socio-political situation in the world, may cause negative public assessment.” Well, that’s a statement in itself!

There’s a playground dedicated to children’s publishing. Collectors of old books will love the Antique book fair, and collectors of vinyl records will love the vinyl club. There are also sections dedicated to illustration and gastronomy.